August 27, 2008

Bill Clinton delivered a very rewarding speech both to Obama and himself as well. He secured his politics with the public and also received a very welcome introduction and standing ovation by the crowd which forced him to quiet them down for what seemed like over five minutes. He successfully attacked the Republicans, and the crowd loved his remark: “The third time won’t be the charm.” A good note: this time Bill kept his speech short — anyone remember the 30+ minute 1988 DMC address?

Running mate Joe Biden accepted as the Vice Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, and introduced perfectly by his son, who jerked tears out of virtually all the delegates in the crowd. Biden himself delivered in my opinion the best speech so far, which really introduced himself to the public as well as giving a national TV look at his wife and mother, which the crowd fussed over as well. His speech also had less politics in it as I would have liked from him, but he really rode off of his son’s introduction and took that momentum and used it very well.

An interesting update — CNN tells us John McCain has officially picked his running mate, and he is to appear with him/her tomorrow night (August 28, 2008). A very interesting diversion from the convention itself.

August 15, 2008

Jack Cafferty wrote a rather controversial post on CNN today, citing that Hillary Clinton has already taken over the democratic convention with all her scheduled introductions, prime-time addresses, and intro videos hyped up by her political team, which was been at a campaign stand-still until recently after months of negotiation with Obama. She has not, however, dropped out of the race — which left many Hilary fans (who aren’t exactly politically keen) baffled in the forums. Now Cafferty is a pretty controversial guy with what he says on the air — and the web — but this one may be the most outrageous political post he has published in a while. And as crazy as it sounds — he has a point.

Call me insane, but I still think Clinton has a chance in getting the sole democratic seat in the thrill ride of the national election — and her elaborate schedule in the convention doesn’t hurt. What does hurt her campaign is the roller coaster she put her supporters through — at first claiming she will be “holding on ’till the end,” then hopping on Obama’s bandwagon, encouraging her supporters to vote for him, and now putting her name onto the ballot at the Democratic Convention.

Let’s face it, during the primaries, Clinton had many of her devoted fans jump onto the Obama chu-chu train for good, which was one of the reasons for her eventual defeat. She now has presented another chance for her delegates and super-delegates to fall for her convention “trap” — consisting of her daughter Chelsea introducing her followed by a move intro produced by the same people that made Bill’s “The Man From Hope” in ’92 — all leading up to her crucial last speech before the curtains close and the decisions start.

Another thing that Hillary can use for her last hurrah is the fact that she has Obama at a standstill. He doesn’t want a dirty convention, and for good reason. A quiet and quickly executed convention would fair well for Obama, who as the projected winner (and for me the obvious one despite the above) needs to confirm to his voters, the independents, and John McCain that the fighting has ceased (at least the public stuff) on the democrat side. So because of this, Obama is staying very conserved and naturally, weak whenever Clinton goes on one of her rants. He knows if he fights back or even presents his side he will be open to attack from anyone and everyone who isn’t in his campaign. An expert put this very well, saying that the Clintons have “got Obama hostage and are exacting their ransom” with every demand that she presents.

So what do I think? Hillary is hurting Obama — and the democratic party as well — by interfering with a convention she knows she can’t win, but will give her a chance. This chance, though, will draw votes away from Obama as well as hurt the democrat’s reputation and open up a hole that the Republics can successfully shoot through. This is something of a last hope for the Clinton side which doubles as a classic show of arrogance on her part. And it won’t fare well for the good old left wing, which needs a boost to beat McCain anyway.